Eve, the first spin-off startup of Brazilian planemaker Embraer to go public, has set a 2026 deadline to put its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle on the market. In an interview with The Brazilian Report, Eve’s co-CEO André Stein explained why this is likely to succeed and what puts the Brazilian firm on the vanguard of a yet-to-be-built but potentially billion-dollar market.
eVTOL aircraft use electricity to hover, take off, and land vertically — technology that was nonexistent not so many years ago, and has only been made possible by advances in electric propulsion. The idea is that these eVTOL vehicles will be used by air taxi companies, taking off from and landing on ‘vertiports’ on the tops of buildings, parking garages, or helipads in congested cities and metropolitan areas.
But where are we most likely to see eVTOL aircraft operating for real? Mr. Stein says Brazil is obviously a good bet, but not the only one.
“This is a very global market. Our partners are spread across almost all continents. Brazil is indeed in a position to be one of the pioneers because, in addition to our primary certification body ANAC, we also have operating partners in the country, as is the case with Helisul, Flapper, and Avantto. And the DECEA, Brazil’s Air Force air traffic control department, is also positioning itself in a very proactive manner,” says Mr. Stein.
But cities worldwide are also emerging as possible early adopters of the system. “In London, we led a regulatory consortium with London Heathrow, London City, and other VTOL manufacturers to define what this operation would look like in the future. In the U.S., Los Angeles and...
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